A while ago I blew out a panel on my Aero 14 when I dropped it in front of a wave. By the time I got my head above water the kite had crashed and there was a big Z shaped split in one of the centre panels. One end of the Z joins onto the leading edge and the other just leaves an inch of trailing edge connected.

The quote to get it repaired was a bit under half the 2nd hand value of the kite (02/03 14 w. big repair, maybe $5-600 on a good day?)The quote was higher because of the leading edge having to be worked on.

I think it's not worth going ahead with it considering I could buy another cheapy second hand kite of a similar age for not much more $$$s than the repairs. I find this slightly depressing considering I clearly remember handing over not too much under $2K for this kite new in late 02. It doesn't seem that long ago..

Anyway I've done some reading and today I paid a total of $30 for a blue and a yellow 25ft roll of dacron sail repair tape. It's self-adhesive and the colours kind of match ok. I've done some research on zeroprestige, kiteforum and of course seabreeze. I'm borrowing a sewing machine this week, I've figured out the best stitch (triple zig-zag, apparently) and I'm almost ready to start.

If anyone has done this before, has any hints or tips, I'd love to hear them

If anyone's interested, I'll let you know how it works out!

wouldnt you need an industrial sewing machine for this kind of thing??

To help line up the rip use some double sided tape on bench top or similar. Stick one side of the rip down first then get the other side perfectly lined up... Lay dacron tape over the rip.. pull it up off the bench (d/s tape should stay on bench) and tape the other side the sew it up

an alternative to the dacron tape, on the canopy, is spinnaker cloth and double-sided-spinnaker-tape... this allows you to go as wide as needed, is cheaper than dacron-tape, lighter than dacron-tape, you can usaully get off-cuts of cloth for free... the x2sided tape sticks like nothing else, it can be worked right into the cloth with a roller or the back of a spoon; it is used instead of stitching on race spinnakers. So if the canopy isn't covered with printing (which will stop the tape working into the cloth) you won't need to stitch anywhere but nearer to the ends of the rip and the LE/TE joins... it's almost too easy to use and the results are extraordinarilly strong (in sheer strenght).

Sheppo's right, any average/good household machine can do the job, I rebuilt a 13.5m2 kite with my sisters old Janome. If you can get one with a triple zig-zag that would be best. Use as much foot pressure as you can and the lightest needle that you're comfortable with (ie, do some practice with scrap and the one you break less... use )

The option is to unstitch the whole panel, use it as a template and replace it as a whole piece... depending on size, load/strength, time and desired look, etc.

if you do a good job you'll have all of your mates bringing you their repairs too have fun

Azza & Sheppo: thanks for the good advice. I will use the double sided tape idea and the double-reinforcing. I'll get some salt water resistant thread too.

I know I got a retail quote thru a kite shop, rather than going direct. I have had Moti fix a bladder for me, and I know he does good work and is pretty cheap.. so if I was serious about getting it repaired I would have gone to him too, even tho it's a longish drive down to Currumbin just for a quote!

I'm happy to try the repair myself tho, cos my kites are old now, and I'm having a wicked time in the surf these days, so I want to be out there more as my kiting progresses. Putting two and two together I'm going to have more repairs in the future, and I'd like to be able to do them myself - it will make me more confident in the surf, not stressing so much about dropping a kite. Besides, I just put a new head gasket in my van, I've got a dead digital camera in bits on the table here with me, I *like* fixing stuff.

So, I'm going to take my time with this and try to get it right first time. I'm guessing up to a month before it's done and tested. I'll post to this thread when I've got news (or disaster strikes!)